In a famous 1970 Earth Day poster, cartoonist Walt Kelly had his title character Pogo, a possum, who lived in the Okefenokee swamp, say to his friend Porky Pine, a porcupine, after they have walked through a contaminated area, “Yep, son, we have met the enemy and he is us.”
Approaching five decades later, the United States democracy is becoming a swamp. The enemy creating that swamp in the U.S. is the enemy within. In 2019, we have met the enemy and he is us.
Donald Trump … [Read more...]

America is a song.
It is a song that has been sung and one yet to be written. It is a song of harmony and one of discord. It is a song that reveals and one that conceals. It is a song of patriotism and one of protest.
More than anything, however, it is a song of passion. Of love for this nation with all its flaws and a desire to celebrate or to summon up our better angels.
The foregoing thoughts were evoked by Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw’s excellent new book, Songs of America: … [Read more...]

President Trump:
This is Norway. We have information on your opponent in this election.
We would like to meet with your son Donald in Trump Tower and share it. We are certain that you would be happy to set up that meeting, as you generously invited us to make this contact in your exclusive interview with George Stephanopoulos.
Some might question you arranging such a meeting. Here’s an idea. If they do, don’t tell them it’s to discuss election dirt but to address the possibility of … [Read more...]

The restrictive and punitive abortion legislation recently passed and signed into law in states such as Georgia, Alabama and Missouri has brought abortion into the national spotlight again.
The debate around abortion is usually cast as pro-life vs. pro-choice. The pro-life side is anti-abortion and focused on the fetus in the womb. The pro-choice side is pro-abortion and focused on the woman and her bodily autonomy and reproductive rights.
As we reflected on it and considered the context … [Read more...]

In a May 31 CBS This Morning TV interview, Attorney General William F. Barr said, “Everyone dies, and I am not you know, I don’t believe in the Homeric idea that you know, immortality comes by, you know, having odes sung about you over the centuries.”
In that part of his interview, Barr told the truth. This stands in stark contrast to his cursory and inaccurate four page summary of the 400+ page Mueller Report released on March 24. And his misleading … [Read more...]

Push came to shove on May 22 in a 3-minute non-meeting in the White House between President Donald Trump and Democratic party leaders and the 2 trillion infrastructure plan collapsed, blown apart by the tornadic winds from the President’s mouth. The demise of the alleged plan was predictable, because from the start it was built not on strong pillars with deep pilings, but on a house of cards in which the joker was wild.
The victim of all of this was the nation’s infrastructure, … [Read more...]

Is national service an idea whose time has come? The answer is maybe. The one thing that can be said definitively is that in the first half of 2019 it has re-emerged as a concept for consideration.
Fareed Zakaria, journalist and author, suggested a national service program of some type in his commencement address at Ohio State University on May 5 of this year. Mr. Zakaria concludes his article for the Washington Post,adapted from that address, by opining, “National service will … [Read more...]

“The rich are different than you and me” F. Scott Fitzgerald allegedly said to Ernest Hemingway in the first quarter of the 20th century. Hemingway replied, “Yes, they have more money.”
Today, in the first quarter of the 21st century, the rich have a lot more money. And because of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), they will have even more and the middle class and average US citizen will have less.
That’s what William Gale, the Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in … [Read more...]

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 contains a provision for the establishment of Opportunity Zones (O-zones or ozones) across the United States. The question is opportunity for whom?
Ostensibly, the TCJA, which gives substantial tax credits to O-zone investors, is designed to increase investments in distressed communities in order to spur economic development and job creation. In its early stages, though, it appears that the primary beneficiaries of this legislation may … [Read more...]

Who Will Win and What Does Winning Mean?
Following up on the promise made in his State of the Union address, on February 11 President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence. There was no money provided in the Order for what is being called the American Artificial Intelligence Initiative (Initiative) and each agency was directed to “prioritize investments” in AI research and development.
Therefore, … [Read more...]